Blood and Prophecy ║ 18+ (Ménage)

Ashes (Part 3)

Valeria's POV
"He's finally asleep," I sighed in relief as I listened to the bond.

I laid my back on the blood red carpet in the living room with my eyes stared at the high white ceiling. My mind kept reeling about how to help my vampire beloved.

Luca was an admirable and strong vampire. He felt deeply, but silently. It was one of the most important trait that he had to master if he wanted to be politically involved with other vampires.

It wasn't like vampires didn't show any emotions. Vampires could show their anger, lust, happiness, annoyance, satisfaction, and many other emotions. But they could never show any sign of fear or grief in political settings.

Emotion is a weapon, Luca had said many times. He rarely brought me to formal meetings for the specific reason that I couldn't keep emotions out of my face. And quite frankly, I was glad for his decision.

Luca had told me when his mother died of old age, there were many attempts of assassination of the King. The King had been crippled for a couple of weeks with grief. The only reason that it didn't take long for him to recover was because the knowledge that his beloved had been happy throughout her human life.

"This is rough," Adam muttered, shaking his head. "He just got you back, and now he lost another beloved."

I swallowed a lump in my throat. I would not cry again. This was my turn to be strong for Luca.

"Do you believe her?" Adam asked when I didn't say anything. "That he will be reborn?"

I bit my lips, unsure myself about the answer. "Damian gave us the bracelets — no, enchanted bracelets. They have to mean something."

"Where do you keep his ashes?"

"I put them in the glass box on the dresser. I want them close to Luca and I," I told him. "Why?"

"I'm just wondering what should we do with them," he shrugged as he laid down on the carpet beside me.

"What do you mean?" I frowned and turned my body to face him.

"I mean... should we just wait? Or burn the ashes? Pray with them? Maybe scatter them a little somewhere special," he rambled. A wave of distress radiated from him. "We have to do something. We can't just wait."

I didn't answer. Once again, we met with a gray area that no one seemed to know what to do.

"I don't want to make you sad, Val," he grimaced a little. "And I'm really trying to be positive. But, it's hard to believe this shit when we don't even know a single thing about how the phoenix could be reborn."

"Yeah," I sighed and rolled to my back. "But, what option do we have? Alexandra called me earlier that she has been looking for any information that might help us."

"She won't find it. Phoenix shifters burned their libraries to the ground a couple of decades ago when you were in a deep sleep."

Disappointment crashed into me, making tears well in my eyes. This wasn't fair. How could fate be so cruel to us — to Damian? He was only in his twenties, and he had to die to safe our lives, who had been alive for centuries.

It was not fair.

"I admire the fact that you want to keep your hopes up," Adam told me quietly, as if we were sharing a secret. "But, don't forget to be realistic. I don't want to see you break."

I nodded silently, unable to find my voice. He was right. Being realistic was the smart thing to do. After all, it was what Luca chose to do. On the other hand, I couldn't help but feeling that this was not the end. Something was missing. And yet, I had know idea what the final piece was.